my name is shoe.

ANDREW SHOEMAKER - “SLUMLORD”

It’s been an embarrassingly long time since my last post. I went back to work part-time at a coffee shop in Kensington. It’s been a fairly pleasant, zen-like experience. I work evenings, alone most of the time, and I’m starting to build a rapport with the regulars. I don’t intend to do this forever, but it is a fine way to earn a wage while I’m pursuing a career in commercial music production.

I’m working on a new song right now. It’s already undergone several major revisions, but today I got it into a shape that I’m reasonably satisfied with. I’m having a hard time identifying the strands of influence in it. Definitely the clickhouse kit was inspired by Telefon Tel Aviv, though I haven’t come near to mastering it. That record is one of my all-time favorites. Melodically speaking, the song shares a lot in common with traditional IDM, particularly Aphex Twin or Squarepusher and the core Warp Records roster. It’s a new style for me, a new set of colors on my pallette, and I look forward to further experimentation with it. 

ANDREW SHOEMAKER - “FAR FROM HOME”

The holidays are nearly upon us, and all the shopping I’ve been putting off is now weighing heavily on my shoulders. So, naturally, I’ve been ignoring it and instead working ceaselessly in the studio. The last couple days have been productive, and I’ve managed to crank out another new song. Galen and Heather both independently used the word “lovely” to describe this new song, “Far From Home.” I find it interesting because I don’t think it’s a word that should be applied to really any of my previous work in Garageband. What’s with the change? Well, for starters I now have access to some very high quality MIDI samples, and voices that I would have shied away from in the past are now exciting new colors added to my palette. The strings on this song for instance have a breathtaking quality about them. There is one audio recording here though: the acoustic guitar track under the climax.

The title here has some significance, I suppose. This is my first year living in another state from my family, and as Christmas approaches, I am eagerly anticipating returning to them in North Carolina next week. You can hear that yearning in every note of this song. Home is so close, but so far away.

UPDATE 12/19: Galen was in town this weekend and helped me adjust the snare sounds a little bit here. He also experimented with some light, airy vocal takes, and we layered them over the climax of the song here for a nice effect. I’m even happier with the song than I was before. Thanks, Galen!

ANDREW SHOEMAKER - ‘STUTTER STOMP’

Here’s an early track I made circa spring 2010. You may (or most likely not, depending on your degree of nerditude) notice a similarity between ‘stutter stomp’ and this piece from Yasunori Mitsuda’s classic video game score. Obviously this was unintentional, but when a friend of mine pointed out the connection I realized how immensely I am influenced by game soundtracks. When I was 12, I begged my mother to buy me the three disc soundtrack to Final Fantasy VI by the legendary Nobuo Uematsu from a magazine ad for a Japanese telephone order service. Despite my mother’s befuddlement and the operator’s broken Engrish, the order got through. These days, video game music is hardly distinguishable from the scores of film and TV, but the aesthetic appeal of 8 and 16-bit music continues to find a place in the music of electronic acts like Anamanaguchi and Crystal Castles (among others). It influences just about everything I write, too.